Movies - TV
The Dark Tower Easter Egg You Never Noticed In The Shawshank Redemption
By JOSHUA MEYER
In "Shawshank," you may recall that Andy Dufresne created a fake identity named Randall Stevens to use after he escaped prison. In King's original novella titled, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank," the character was named Peter Stevens, but director Frank Darabont changed it for the movie as a shout-out to Randall Flagg.
Flagg is a major recurring villain across King's work, but specifically in the "Dark Tower" series and "The Stand.” In Darabont’s director commentary, he explained: “One of his all-time great villains is named Randall Flagg, from 'The Stand' and also from 'The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger' series. So when I needed to replace Peter, I chose Randall, as a little salute to Steve."
Having a little cross-pollination between films, even just through Easter eggs, is very much in keeping with King's literary spirit. Now, we're just waiting to hear more evidence that Andy Dufresne is, in fact, another version of Randall Flagg, which would upend everything we think we know about "The Shawshank Redemption"